Sharing an antenna between LTE-U and WLAN

ABSTRACT

In a particular aspect, a method includes receiving, at a long-term evolution (LTE) circuitry of wireless device from a wireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry of the wireless device while the LTE circuitry has control of at least one antenna of the wireless device, a request for control of the at least one antenna. Communications by the LTE circuitry using the at least one antenna corresponds to a first frequency band, communications by the WLAN circuitry using the at least one antenna correspond to a second frequency band, and the first frequency band at least partially overlaps the second frequency band. The method further includes sending a response from the LTE circuitry to the WLAN circuitry based on data included in the request.

I. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/198,632, filed Jul. 29, 2015, and entitled “SHARINGAN ANTENNA BETWEEN LTE-U AND WLAN,” which is expressly incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

II. FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to wireless communication,and specifically to sharing an antenna for wireless communication.

III. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerfulcomputing devices. For example, a variety of portable personal computingdevices, including wireless telephones such as mobile and smart phones,tablets and laptop computers are small, lightweight, and easily carriedby users. These devices can communicate voice and data packets overwireless networks. Further, many such devices incorporate additionalfunctionality such as a digital still camera, a digital video camera, adigital recorder, and an audio file player. Also, such devices canprocess executable instructions, including software applications, suchas a web browser application, that can be used to access the Internet.As such, these devices can include significant computing and networkingcapabilities.

Wireless devices may use various wireless networks to exchange data,such as voice data, video data, packet data, message data, and otherdata. Some wireless devices may communicate via multiple wirelessnetworks. For example, a wireless device may communicate with a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) that includes an access point (AP). Thewireless device may also support communications with other wirelesscommunication technologies. For example, the AP may support otherwireless communication technologies in addition to WLAN, or the wirelessdevice may communicate with another device that supports other wirelesscommunication technologies. As a particular example, the wireless devicemay communicate with a device that supports long term evolution (LTE)communications.

To reduce size of the wireless device, at least one antenna of thewireless device may be shared between components that communicate usingdifferent wireless communication technologies. For example, at least oneantenna may be shared between LTE communications and WLANcommunications. The at least one antenna may be shared according tovarious schemes in different situations. To illustrate, when a WLAN modeof the wireless device is enabled and a LTE mode of the wireless deviceis disabled, the at least one antenna may be reserved for WLANcommunications. When the WLAN mode is disabled and the LTE mode isenabled, the at least one antenna may be reserved for LTEcommunications.

Conflicts may exist when the WLAN mode is enabled and the LTE mode isenabled. To prevent some conflicts, when the LTE mode and the WLAN modeare enabled but the wireless device is not in an associated state withan AP (or another device) via the WLAN, the at least one antenna may beshared using a time division scheme. In accordance with the timedivision scheme, the antenna may be periodically reserved (e.g., during1 second of each 5 second period) for WLAN communications andperiodically reserved (e.g., during 4 seconds of each 5 second period)for LTE communications. However, some WLAN applications may performoperations using the at least one antenna when the wireless device isnot in an associated state with an AP. For example, the wireless devicemay execute one or more applications that perform preferred networkoffload (PNO) scans, out of service (OOS) scans, opportunistic roamingscans, “always-on” ranging operations, “locationing” scans or otherscans having a time restriction, neighbor-aware network (NAN) discoveryscans, NAN beaconing operations, and/or station-to-station multichannelconcurrency (STA+STA MCC) operations. Such operations may be performedat different times, such that the operations are incompatible with thetime division scheme. Failure to perform the operations may cause one ormore applications to fail or to enter an error state.

IV. SUMMARY

The present disclosure describes systems, apparatuses, methods, andcomputer-readable mediums that enable WLAN circuitry of a wirelessdevice and LTE circuitry of the wireless device that may communicate viaa common frequency band to share at least one antenna of the wirelessdevice without using a time division scheme. The WLAN circuitry may beconfigured to perform wireless communications via a 5 gigahertz (5 GHz)channel (e.g., the common frequency band), and the LTE circuitry mayinclude LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) circuitry configured to perform wirelesscommunications via the 5 GHz channel (e.g., the common frequency band).The WLAN circuitry and the LTE circuitry may communicate using requestmessages and response messages to indicate requests for control of theat least one antenna or to indicate release of control of the at leastone antenna. The messages may enable sharing of the at least one antennabased on priority of an application requesting control of the at leastone antenna or based on an estimated duration of an operation to beperformed using the at least one antenna, as further described herein.Thus, the present disclosure may enable sharing the at least one antennawith greater flexibility than using a time division scheme. The greaterflexibility of sharing the at least one antenna may enable applicationsto perform operations, such as WLAN communications even when thewireless device is not in an associated state with an AP, in time toavoid failure or error. Sharing of the at least one antenna in othersituations (e.g., when the WLAN circuitry or the LTE circuitry isdisabled, or when the WLAN circuitry is enabled and the wireless devicesis in an associated state with another wireless device via a WLAN) areoutside the scope of this disclosure. Thus, the wireless device maysupport WLAN applications that perform PNO scans, opportunistic roamingscans, “always-on” ranging operations, locationing scans or other scanshaving a time restriction, NAN discovery scans, NAN beaconingoperations, or other operations, as well as applications thatcommunicate via LTE-U networks.

To further illustrate, when the WLAN circuitry and the LTE circuitry areenabled, but the wireless device is not in an associated state withanother device via WLAN communications, the LTE circuitry may havecontrol of the at least one antenna. Although described as being in anassociated state with another device, the wireless device may also (oralternatively) be communicatively connected to another device via adifferent type of connection, such via an established peer-to-peerconnection or via a beaconing process, as non-limiting examples. The LTEcircuitry may perform communications via a LTE-U network using the atleast one antenna. When the WLAN circuitry determines that anapplication is requesting to perform wireless communications, the WLANcircuitry sends a request for control of the at least one antenna. TheLTE circuitry receives the request and determines whether to grant therequest based on data included in the request. The data may include acriticality bit indicating whether the operation corresponding to therequest is critical, and the data may indicate a duration of performanceof the operation. If the criticality bit has a first value (indicatingthe operation is critical), the LTE circuitry may grant the request bysending a response (e.g., an acknowledgement (ACK)) to the WLANcircuitry and by releasing control of the at least one antenna. The WLANcircuitry may take control of the at least one antenna to perform theoperation and, after performance of the operation is complete, the WLANcircuitry may release control of the at least one antenna back to theLTE circuitry.

If the criticality bit has a second value (indicating the operation isnot critical), the LTE circuitry may determine whether to grant therequest based on the duration. For example, if the duration fails toexceed a time period prior to a next operation at the LTE circuitry, theLTE circuitry may send the response (e.g., the ACK) to the WLANcircuitry and release control of the at least one antenna. If theduration exceeds the time period, the LTE circuitry may retain controlof the at least one antenna and may send the response (e.g., a negativeacknowledgement (NACK)) to the WLAN circuitry. Based on the NACK, theWLAN circuitry may re-request the at least one antenna. In someimplementations, the WLAN circuitry may set the criticality bit to thefirst value in a second request to ensure that the request is granted bythe LTE circuitry.

In a particular aspect, a method of wireless communication includesreceiving, at long-term evolution (LTE) circuitry of a wireless devicefrom wireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry of the wireless devicewhile the LTE circuitry has control of at least one antenna of thewireless device, a request for control of the at least one antenna.Communications by the LTE circuitry using the at least one antennacorrespond to a first frequency band, communications by the WLANcircuitry using the at least one antenna correspond to a secondfrequency band, and the first frequency band at least partially overlapsthe second frequency band. The method further includes sending aresponse from the LTE circuitry to the WLAN circuitry based on dataincluded in the request.

In a particular aspect, an apparatus includes at least one antenna. Theapparatus includes long-term evolution (LTE) circuitry configured to becoupled to the at least one antenna and configured to communicate via afirst frequency band. The apparatus includes wireless local area network(WLAN) circuitry configured to be coupled to the at least one antennaand to communicate via a second frequency band. The first frequency bandat least partially overlaps the second frequency band. The apparatusfurther includes an interface configured to enable communicationsbetween the LTE circuitry and the WLAN circuitry, where thecommunications include a response from the LTE circuitry to the WLANcircuitry based on data included in a request from the WLAN circuitryfor control of the at least one antenna.

In a particular aspect, an apparatus includes means for performing longterm evolution (LTE) communications via at least one antenna and via afirst frequency band. The apparatus includes means for performingwireless local area network (WLAN) communications via the at least oneantenna and via a second frequency band. The first frequency band atleast partially overlaps the second frequency band. The apparatusfurther includes means for sending a response to the means forperforming WLAN communications based on data included in a requestreceived from the means for performing WLAN communications while themeans for performing LTE communications has control of the at least oneantenna. The request is for control of the at least one antenna.

In another particular aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable mediumstores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause theprocessor to receive, at long-term evolution (LTE) circuitry of wirelessdevice from wireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry of the wirelessdevice while the LTE circuitry has control of at least one antenna ofthe wireless device, a request for control of the at least one antenna.Communications by the LTE circuitry using the at least one antennacorrespond to a first frequency band, communications by the WLANcircuitry using the at least one antenna correspond to a secondfrequency band, and the first frequency band at least partially overlapsthe second frequency band. The instructions further cause the processorto send a response from the LTE circuitry to the WLAN circuitry based ondata included in the request.

One particular advantage provided by at least one of the disclosedaspects is sharing of at least one antenna with more flexibility thanusing a time division scheme. This method of sharing enables the WLANcircuitry to request control of the at least one antenna when criticaloperations are to be performed. For example, the WLAN circuitry may senda request (with the criticality bit having the first value) to the LTEcircuitry, and the LTE circuitry may release control of the at least oneantenna to the WLAN circuitry. Thus, critical operations are able to beperformed in time to avoid failure or an error. Additionally, if thecriticality bit has the second value, the LTE circuitry determineswhether to grant the request based on a duration of an operation to beperformed using the at least one antenna. In this manner, the LTEcircuitry may release control of the at least one antenna to the WLANcircuitry during periods when the LTE circuitry is not performing anyoperations via the at least one antenna. Thus, the at least one antennamay be shared more efficiently by allowing the WLAN circuitry to havecontrol during periods of inactively at the LTE circuitry.

Other aspects, advantages, and features of the present disclosure willbecome apparent after review of the entire application, including thefollowing sections: Brief Description of the Drawings, DetailedDescription, and the Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative aspect of a systemsupporting sharing at least one antenna of a wireless device betweenwireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry and long term evolution(LTE) circuitry;

FIG. 2 is a ladder diagram of a first aspect of a method of sharing atleast one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry;

FIG. 3 is a ladder diagram of a second aspect of a method of sharing atleast one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry;

FIG. 4 is a ladder diagram of a third aspect of a method of sharing atleast one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry;

FIG. 5 is a ladder diagram of a fourth aspect of a method of sharing atleast one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry;

FIG. 6 is a ladder diagram of a fifth aspect of a method of sharing atleast one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method of wireless communicationin which at least one antenna is shared between WLAN circuitry and LTEcircuitry; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a wireless device operable to supportvarious aspects of one or more methods, systems, apparatuses, and/orcomputer-readable media disclosed herein.

VI. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Particular aspects of the present disclosure are described below withreference to the drawings. In the description, common features aredesignated by common reference numbers throughout the drawings. As usedherein, various terminology is used for the purpose of describingparticular implementations only and is not intended to be limiting. Forexample, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to includethe plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It may be further understood that the terms “comprises” and“comprising” may be used interchangeably with “includes” or “including.”Additionally, it will be understood that the term “wherein” may be usedinterchangeably with “where.” As used herein, “exemplary” may indicatean example, an implementation, and/or an aspect, and should not beconstrued as limiting or as indicating a preference or a preferredimplementation. As used herein, an ordinal term (e.g., “first,”“second,” “third,” etc.) used to modify an element, such as a structure,a component, an operation, etc., does not by itself indicate anypriority or order of the element with respect to another element, butrather merely distinguishes the element from another element having asame name (but for use of the ordinal term).

Particular aspects of the present disclosure are described below withreference to the drawings. In the description, common features aredesignated by common reference numbers throughout the drawings.

The present disclosure describes sharing of at least one antenna betweenwireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry of a wireless device andlong term evolution (LTE) circuitry of the wireless device. When a WLANmode of the wireless device and a LTE mode of the wireless device areenabled and the wireless device is not in an associated state withanother wireless device via the WLAN circuitry, the LTE circuitry mayhave control of the at least one antenna. Although described as being inan associated with another device, such description is for convenienceand is not limiting. For example, the wireless device may becommunicatively connected to another device using other types ofconnections. As an example, the wireless device may have established apeer-to-peer connection with another device. As another example, thewireless device may announce an availability for communication (e.g.,via a beacon message or other message) to other devices. By announcingthe availability for communication, the wireless device begins abeaconing process that may result in a connection with another device.In other implementations, other types of connections may be established(e.g., connections associated with other network topologies). Thus, forconvenience, an “associated state” may refer to any type ofcommunicative connection between two devices.

The WLAN circuitry may send a request to the LTE circuitry when anapplication associated with the WLAN circuitry requests use of the atleast one antenna. The request may include a criticality bit and mayindicate a duration of an operation to be performed using the at leastone antenna. The LTE circuitry may determine whether to release controlof the at least one antenna (e.g., grant the request) based on thecriticality bit and the duration. The LTE circuitry may signal the WLANcircuitry using a response (e.g., an acknowledgement or a negativeacknowledgement) to inform the WLAN circuitry whether control of the atleast one antenna is being released. By using a message-based scheme toshare the at least one antenna, the at least one antenna may be sharedwith more flexibility than using a time division scheme. Additionally,because some requests may be indicated as critical (and thusautomatically granted by the LTE circuitry), the WLAN circuitry may beable to perform certain operations on an as needed basis. Thus, WLANapplications performing unscheduled critical operations may be supportedby the message-based sharing scheme.

Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an illustrative aspect of asystem supporting sharing at least one antenna of a wireless devicebetween wireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry and long termevolution (LTE) circuitry is depicted and generally designated 100. Thesystem 100 includes a wireless device 102, an access point (AP) 120, anda base station 122.

The AP 120 may be part of a WLAN and may be configured to provide accessto the WLAN to wireless devices. For example, if the wireless device 102is in an associated state with the AP 120, the AP 120 may enable thewireless device 102 to communicate with other wireless devices via theWLAN. The AP 120 (and other APs or wireless devices not illustrated) mayrepresent a basic service set (BSS) or an extended service set (ESS).The AP 120 may be configured to operate in accordance with a wirelessstandard. For example, the AP 120 may be configured to operate inaccordance with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) 802.11 standard, a Wi-Fi Alliance standard, other standards, or acombination thereof. Because the AP 120 may operate in accordance withan IEEE 802.11 standard, the WLAN may be referred to as a “Wi-Fi”network. In a particular implementation, the AP 120 may be configured tooperate in a particular frequency band referred to as “the 5 gigahertz(GHz) unlicensed spectrum.” The 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum may refer tothe frequency band between approximately 5 GHz and approximately 6 GHz(e.g., 5150 megahertz (MHz) to 5850 MHz).

The base station 122 may be part of a cellular network and may supportvarious types of wireless communications. Particularly, the base station122 may be a LTE base station. The LTE base station may be part of a LTEnetwork and may support LTE communications. In a particularimplementation, the base station 122 is a LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) basestation. LTE-U refers to LTE networks that operate in the particularfrequency band referred to as the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. In aparticular implementation, the base station 122 is configured to operatein one of three frequency bands: 5150-5250 MHz (“U-NII-1”), 5250-5725MHz (“U-NII-2”), or 5725-5850 MHz (“U-NII-3”).

The wireless device 102 may include or correspond to mobile phones,satellite phones, laptop computers, tablet computers, palm computers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), computerized watches, multimediadevices, peripheral devices, data storage devices, a vehicle (or acomponent thereof), or a combination thereof. The wireless device 102includes wireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry 104, long termevolution circuitry (LTE) 106, an interface 108, and at least oneantenna 110. The interface 108 may include a shared memory interface, awireless coexistence interface 2 (WCI-2), a general purpose input-output(GPIO) interface, a bus, or a different interface. The at least oneantenna 110 may be shared by the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTEcircuitry 106, as further described herein. In a particularimplementation, the LTE circuitry 106 and the WLAN circuitry 104 may beintegrated within a modem of the wireless device 102. For example, thewireless device 102 may include a single modem, and the modem mayinclude the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106.

The at least one antenna 110 may include a single antenna or two or moreantennas. In a particular implementation, the at least one antenna 110includes two or more antennas, and the wireless device 102 is configuredto communicate using multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) techniquesvia the two or more antennas. In some implementations, the wirelessdevice 102 may include dedicated (e.g., unshared) antennas. For example,the wireless device 102 may include a first dedicated antenna 112 and asecond dedicated antenna 114. The WLAN circuitry 104 may be configuredto operate the first dedicated antenna 112, and the LTE circuitry 106may be configured to operate the second dedicated antenna 114. In otherimplementations, the wireless device 102 does not include the dedicatedantennas 112 and 114.

Additionally, the wireless device 102 may include a processor and amemory (not illustrated). The processor may include or correspond to acentral processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), anetwork processing unit (NPU), or other processing devices. The memorymay include or correspond to a random access memory (RAM), a read-onlymemory (ROM), a set of registers, a set of storage elements, or acombination thereof. The wireless device 102 may also include at leastone wireless interface configured to send and receive data via the atleast one antenna 110.

The WLAN circuitry 104 may include circuitry configured to receive orsend data via a WLAN using the at least one antenna 110. For example,the WLAN circuitry 104 may include or correspond to processors orcontrollers, transceiver(s), receiver(s), transmitter(s), antennainterface circuit(s), switch(es), switch control circuitry, duplexer(s),transmit filter(s), receive filter(s), matching circuit(s), mixer(s),amplifier(s), oscillator(s), local oscillator (LO) generator(s),phase-locked loop(s) (PLLs), other circuitry, or a combination thereof.The WLAN circuitry 104 may be configured to operate in accordance with awireless standard. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may be configuredto operate in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard (e.g., a Wi-Fistandard), a Wi-Fi Alliance standard, other standards, or a combinationthereof. In a particular implementation, the WLAN circuitry 104 may beconfigured to send or receive data via a second frequency band. Thesecond frequency band may include the 5 GHz channel. In otherimplementations, the WLAN circuitry 104 may be configured to send orreceive data via a 2.4 GHz channel or other frequency spectrums.

The LTE circuitry 106 may include circuitry configured to receive orsend data via a LTE network using the at least one antenna 110. Forexample, the LTE circuitry 106 may include or correspond to processorsor controllers, transceiver(s), receiver(s), transmitter(s), antennainterface circuit(s), switch(es), switch control circuitry, duplexer(s),transmit filter(s), receive filter(s), matching circuit(s), mixer(s),amplifier(s), oscillator(s), local oscillator (LO) generator(s),phase-locked loop(s) (PLLs), other circuitry, or a combination thereof.The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to operate in accordance with aLTE communication technique or standard. In a particular implementation,the LTE circuitry 106 may include LTE-U circuitry. The LTE-U circuitrymay be configured to send or receive data via a first frequency band.The first frequency band may include the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. In aparticular implementation, the LTE circuitry 106 is configured to sendor receive data via one of three frequency bands: 5150-5250 MHz(“U-NII-1”), 5250-5725 MHz (“U-NII-2”), or 5725-5850 MHz (“U-NII-3”).Thus, in some implementations, the first frequency band may at leastpartially overlap the second frequency band. The overlapping frequencybands may be referred to as a “common frequency band.” In otherimplementations, the LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to send orreceive data via other frequency spectrums. In these otherimplementations, the first frequency band and the second frequency bandmay not overlap.

Because the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106 may both beconfigured to send or receive data using the at least one antenna 110via a common frequency band (e.g., overlapping frequency bands, such asone or more sub-bands within the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum and 5 GHzchannel corresponding to WLAN), coexistence issues may arise. To avoidcoexistence problems, the wireless device 102 may be configured suchthat one of the WLAN circuitry 104 or the LTE circuitry 106 has controlof the at least one antenna 110 at a particular time. Having control ofthe at least one antenna 110 may refer to the WLAN circuitry 104 or theLTE circuitry 106 either using, or being configured to use, the at leastone antenna 110 while the other of the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTEcircuitry 106 is unable to use the at least one antenna 110. In aparticular implementation, the wireless device 102 may include a switchconfigured to selectively couple the at least one antenna 110 to theWLAN circuitry 104 or the LTE circuitry 106. For example, the LTEcircuitry 106 may be configured to maintain or regain control of the atleast one antenna by causing the switch to couple the at least oneantenna to the LTE circuitry 106. In other implementations, the wirelessdevice 102 may not include a switch, and the WLAN circuitry 104 and theLTE circuitry 106 may be configured such that, when one of the WLANcircuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106 has control of the at least oneantenna 110, the other of the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry106 does not use the at least one antenna 110. The LTE circuitry 106 orthe WLAN circuitry 104 may indicate control of the at least one antenna110 via messaging described further herein.

The wireless device 102 may be configured to share the at least oneantenna 110 between the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106based on operating modes of the wireless device 102. The operating modesmay include a WLAN mode and a LTE mode. The WLAN mode and the LTE modemay each be enabled or disabled, and the operating modes are notexclusive (e.g., the WLAN mode and the LTE mode may both be enabledconcurrently). The at least one antenna 110 may be shared based on theWLAN mode and the LTE mode. To illustrate, when both the WLAN mode andthe LTE mode are disabled, the WLAN circuitry 104 has control of the atleast one antenna 110. When the WLAN mode is disabled and the LTE modeis enabled, the LTE circuitry 106 has control of the at least oneantenna 110. When the WLAN mode is enabled and the LTE mode is disabled,the WLAN circuitry 104 has control of the at least one antenna 110. Whenthe WLAN mode is enabled, the LTE mode is enabled, and the wirelessdevice 102 is in an associated state (e.g., is communicativelyconnected) with another wireless device via a WLAN, the WLAN circuitry104 has control of the at least one antenna 110 and a Radio Link Failure(RLF) state is triggered at the LTE circuitry 106. For example, when thewireless device 102 is in an associated state with the AP 120 via a WLANprovided by the AP 120 and both the WLAN mode and the LTE mode areenabled, the WLAN circuitry 104 has control of the at least one antenna110 and a RLF state is triggered at the LTE circuitry 106. Althoughdescribed herein as being in an associated state with the AP 120, inother implementations, the wireless device 102 may be in an associatedstate (e.g., may be communicatively connected) with other devices, suchas other stations or clients (e.g., via a peer-to-peer connection, as anon-limiting example).

When the WLAN mode is enabled, the LTE mode is enabled, and the wirelessdevice 102 is not in an associated state with any other wireless devicevia a WLAN, the LTE circuitry 106 has control of the at least oneantenna 110, but the at least one antenna 110 may be shared, as furtherdescribed herein. Other wireless devices may share an antenna betweenWLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry according to a time division scheme.For example, WLAN circuitry has control of the antenna for one second ofeach five second interval, and the LTE circuitry has control of theantenna for the rest of the five interval. This time division scheme mayenable sharing of an antenna between some WLAN applications and LTEapplications.

However, the time division scheme may not be flexible to support sharingwith some WLAN applications. For example, some WLAN applications mayperform critical operations at times when the LTE circuitry has control(e.g., four seconds of each five second interval). If the WLANapplications do not perform the critical operations, the WLANapplications may fail or enter an error state. Additionally, some WLANapplications may perform operations taking longer than the time period(e.g., one second) of antenna control at the WLAN circuitry. If theoperation is not complete due to control of the antenna being taken awayfrom the WLAN circuitry, the WLAN application may fail or enter an errorstate. Thus, the time division scheme may not be flexible enough tosupport at least some WLAN applications.

Examples of WLAN applications that may not be supported by the timedivision scheme include one or more applications performing preferrednetwork offload (PNO) scans, out of service (OOS) scans, opportunisticroaming scans, “always-on” ranging scans, “locationing” scans or otherscans having a time restriction, neighbor-aware network (NAN) discoveryscans, NAN beaconing operations, and station-to-station multichannelconcurrency (STA+STA MCC) operations. At least some of the operations(e.g., PNO scans, ranging scans, and locationing scans) may be performedin accordance with one or more standards.

To illustrate, applications performing the above-mentioned operationsmay access an antenna at various times outside the bounds of one secondper each five second interval. As an example, applications supportingPNO perform scans may perform background scans for WLAN connectionswhile the wireless device 102 is in a lower power (e.g., sleep) mode.The background scans may be performed in accordance with a standard andat times that are incompatible with the time division sharing scheme. Asanother example, applications supporting OOS scans may perform scans forWLAN connections when the wireless device 102 is out of service (e.g.,out of a service range of wireless devices providing WLANs). The OOSscans may be performed at times that are incompatible with the timedivision sharing scheme. As another example, applications supportingopportunistic (e.g., smart) roaming may perform “split” scans via the 5GHz channel when the wireless device 102 is not in an associated statewith (e.g., connected to) any other wireless device via the 5 GHzchannel. As another example, applications that support always-on rangingmay perform ranging operations with APs operating in the 5 GHz channelwhen the wireless device 102 is not in an associated state with anyother wireless device via the 5 GHz channel. As another example,applications supporting NAN discovery scans may perform scans for NANbeacons at a fixed periodicity that may be incompatible with the timedivision sharing scheme. As another example, applications supporting NANbeacon operations may send NAN beacons at a fixed periodicity that maybe incompatible with the time division sharing scheme. As anotherexample, applications supporting locationing scans (or other scanshaving a time restriction) may perform scans or ranging operations thathave a duration exceeding one second, and thus may be incompatible withthe time division sharing scheme. To illustrate, interrupting a scanthat has a time restriction before completion (e.g., due to the WLANcircuitry 104 losing control of the at least one antenna 110) maytrigger an error. As another example, applications supporting STA+STAMCC operations may send messages via the 5 GHz channel at a fixedperiodicity that may be incompatible with the time division sharingscheme. Because the fixed periodicity of the above-described operationsmay be different, a single time division sharing scheme may not becompatible with each of the above-described applications. Thus, the timedivision sharing scheme does not support each of the above-describedapplications.

Instead of sharing the at least one antenna 110 using a time divisionscheme, the LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to share control of theat least one antenna 110 with the WLAN circuitry 104 based on messagesexchanged between the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106. Thismethod of sharing may be performed when the wireless device 102 is notin an associated state with any other wireless device via a WLAN andwhen the WLAN mode and the LTE mode are enabled. When the wirelessdevice 102 is not in an associated state with any other wireless devicevia a WLAN (and when the WLAN mode and the LTE mode are enabled), theLTE circuitry 106 may be configured to have control of the at least oneantenna 110 by default. When the WLAN circuitry 104 determines that anapplication is requesting access to the at least one antenna 110, theWLAN circuitry 104 may request control of the at least one antenna 110.To illustrate, the WLAN circuitry 104 may be configured to generate arequest 130 when an application is requesting access to the at least oneantenna 110. The request 130 may be sent via the interface 108. Forexample, the interface 108 may enable communication between the LTEcircuitry 106 and the WLAN circuitry 104, and messages, such as therequest 130 or a response to the request 130, may be transmitted orreceived via the interface 108. The LTE circuitry 106 may be configuredto receive the request 130 from WLAN circuitry 104 and to send aresponse 140 based on data included in the request 130, as furtherdescribed herein.

The request 130 may include data corresponding to an operationcorresponding to the request. The data may include a criticality bit 132indicating whether an operation corresponding to the request iscritical. An operation may be referred to as “critical” if failure toperform the operation will cause an application to fail or enter anerror state. A value of the criticality bit 132 may indicate whether theoperation is critical. For example, if the criticality bit 132 has afirst value, the operation is critical, and if the criticality bit 132has a second value, the operation is not critical. In a particularimplementation, the first value is a one value and the second value is azero value. Alternatively, the first value may be a zero value and thesecond value may be a one value.

The request 130 may also indicate a duration 134 of the operation to beperformed using the at least one antenna 110. The duration 134 may be avalue representing an estimated duration of performing the operationcorresponding to the request. In a particular implementation, the WLANcircuitry 104 may be configured to receive the duration 134 from anapplication requesting access to the at least one antenna 110. Inanother particular implementation, the WLAN circuitry 104 may beconfigured to access a memory (not shown) storing estimated durationscorresponding to performance of various operations via the WLANcircuitry 104. The memory may be accessed based on a type of applicationrequesting access to the at least one antenna 110. In another particularimplementation, the WLAN circuitry 104 may include a processor orcontroller configured to estimate the duration 134 of performance of theoperation.

The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to send the response 140 to theWLAN circuitry 104 based on the data included in the request 130. Theresponse 140 may indicate whether the request 130 is granted by the LTEcircuitry 106. The response 140 may be sent based on the criticality bit132, the duration 134, or a combination thereof.

The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to automatically grant requestscorresponding to critical operations. When the operation is critical,the LTE circuitry 106 may grant the request regardless of the duration134. To illustrate, the LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to grant therequest 130 when the criticality bit 132 has a first value indicatingthe request 130 corresponds to a critical operation. When the request130 is being granted, the response 140 is an acknowledgement (ACK)message. For example, when the criticality bit 132 has the first value,the LTE circuitry 106 sends an ACK as the response 140 to indicate thatthe request 130 is being granted. In response to receiving the request130 with the criticality bit 132 having the first value, the LTEcircuitry 106 may “immediately” grant the request 130. “Immediately”granting the request refers to terminating any current operations beingperformed by the LTE circuitry 106, sending the ACK, and releasingcontrol of the at least one antenna 110. Details regarding timing ofmessages sent when the criticality bit 132 has the first value aredescribed further with reference to FIG. 2.

In addition to sending the ACK as the response 140, the LTE circuitry106 releases control of the at least one antenna 110. In a particularimplementation, releasing control of the at least one antenna 110includes causing a switch to couple the at least one antenna 110 to theWLAN circuitry 104. For example, the wireless device 102 may include aswitch that is configured to selectively couple the WLAN circuitry 104or the LTE circuitry 106 to the at least one antenna 110. To releasecontrol of the at least one antenna 110, the LTE circuitry 106 may causethe switch to couple the WLAN circuitry 104 to the at least one antenna110. In an alternate implementation, a processor or a controllerincluded in the LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to stop sending orreceiving data via the at least one antenna 110 in response to the LTEcircuitry 106 releasing control of the at least one antenna 110. Forexample, the LTE circuitry 106 may disable data transmission from theLTE circuitry 106 to the at least one antenna 110 in response to releaseof control of the at least one antenna 110.

In response to receiving the ACK as the response 140, the WLAN circuitry104 may take control of the at least one antenna 110 to perform theoperation corresponding to the request 130. The WLAN circuitry 104 maymaintain control of the at least one antenna 110 until performance ofthe operation is completed. Completing performance of the operation maybe referred to as “atomically” completing the operation. Afterperformance of the operation is complete, the WLAN circuitry 104 maysend a release message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106 and may releasecontrol of the at least one antenna 110. The LTE circuitry 106 may beconfigured to receive the release message 142 and, in response toreceiving the release message 142, to regain control of the at least oneantenna 110. In a particular implementation, regaining (or maintaining)control of the at least one antenna 110 includes causing the switch tocouple the at least one antenna 110 to the LTE circuitry 106. In analternate implementation, a processor or a controller included in theLTE circuitry 106 may be configured to resume sending or receiving datavia the at least one antenna 110 when the LTE circuitry 106 regainscontrol of the at least one antenna 110.

In a particular implementation, the release message 142 is receivedprior to expiration of a time period corresponding to the duration 134indicated by the data of the request 130. For example, the WLANcircuitry 104 may complete performance of the operation and send therelease message 142 in less time than the duration 134. Because the WLANcircuitry 104 is configured to release control of the at least oneantenna 110 when performance of the operation is complete instead ofmaintaining control until a certain time based on the duration 134,inactivity periods corresponding to the at least one antenna 110 may bereduced.

Additionally, the LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to selectivelygrant non-critical requests. Selective granting of requests may be basedon the duration 134. To illustrate, when the criticality bit 132 has thesecond value indicating the request 130 does not correspond to acritical operation, the LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to determinewhether to grant the request 130 based on the duration 134. Detailsregarding timing of messages sent when the criticality bit 132 has thesecond value are described further with reference to FIGS. 3-5. The LTEcircuitry 106 may also be configured to determine an estimated durationof time before a next expected operation at the LTE circuitry 106 and touse the estimated duration in determining whether to grant the request130. When the duration 134 fails to exceed the estimated duration, therequest 130 may be granted. The request 130 may be granted in order toefficiently use a time period of inactivity at the at least one antenna110 when the LTE circuitry 106 is not scheduled to send or receive data.To illustrate, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine to release control ofthat at least one antenna 110 in response to the duration 134 failing toexceed the estimated duration of time before a next expected operationat the LTE circuitry 106. In response to determining that the duration134 fails to exceed the estimated duration, the LTE circuitry 106 sendsan ACK as the response 140 and the LTE circuitry 106 releases control ofthe at least one antenna 110. The WLAN circuitry 104 may receive theresponse 140 (e.g., the ACK) and may maintain control of the at leastone antenna 110 until performance of the operation is complete. Aftercompleting performance of the operation, the WLAN circuitry 104 may sendthe release message 142 and may release control of the at least oneantenna 110.

If the duration 134 is equal to or exceeds the estimated duration, therequest 130 is not granted because the LTE circuitry 106 is scheduled tosend or receive data before the operation at the WLAN circuitry 104would be complete. The LTE circuitry 106 may determine not to releasecontrol of that at least one antenna 110 in response to the duration 134being equal to or exceeding the estimated duration of time before a nextexpected operation at the LTE circuitry 106. In response to determiningthat the estimated duration is equal to or exceeds the duration 134, theLTE circuitry 106 sends a NACK as the response 140. The WLAN circuitry104 may be configured to receive the response 140 (e.g., the NACK) andto determine that control of that at least one antenna 110 has not beenreleased based on the NACK. In response to receiving the NACK, the WLANcircuitry 104 may send a second request to the LTE circuitry 106 torequest control of that at least one antenna 110. In the second request,the criticality bit 132 may have the first value, as further describedwith reference to FIG. 4. Alternatively, in the second request thecriticality bit 132 may have the second value, and the LTE circuitry 106may determine not to grant the second request, as further described withreference to FIG. 5. In some implementations, failure to grant thesecond request may cause an error condition at the WLAN circuitry 104.

In a particular implementation, the request 130 may indicate aperiodicity corresponding to the request 130. For example, the request130 may include a count value 136 corresponding to the periodicity ofrequested access to the at least one antenna 110 by the WLAN circuitry104. Additional details of the timing of messages sent in thisimplementation are further described with reference to FIG. 6. In thisimplementation, the WLAN circuitry 104 may identify an operation that isto be performed on a periodic basis, and the request 130 may be based onthe operation. The request 130 may also include the criticality bit 132having the first value (indicating that the request 130 corresponds to acritical operation). The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to grantthe request 130 on a periodic basis according to the count value 136.The LTE circuitry 106 may include a timer used to identify times whenthe request 130 is to be granted. In addition to releasing control ofthe at least one antenna 110 in response to receiving the request 130with the count value 136, the LTE circuitry 106 may start the timer atan initial value. Releasing control of the at least one antenna 110 mayinclude sending an ACK as the response 140. After the WLAN circuitry 104completes performance of the operation, the WLAN circuitry 104 sends therelease message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106. After receiving therelease message 142, the LTE circuitry 106 may regain control of the atleast one antenna 110.

However, the WLAN circuitry 104 is scheduled to perform the operationagain at a later time indicated by the count value 136. The LTEcircuitry 106 may be configured to use the timer to release control ofthe at least one antenna 110 without receiving additional requestmessages from the WLAN circuitry 104. To illustrate, the LTE circuitry106 may be configured to release control of the at least one antenna 110when the timer reaches a value that matches the count value 136. In someimplementations, the LTE circuitry 106 may send another ACK to indicaterelease of the at least one antenna 110. In other implementations, theLTE circuitry 106 may release the at least one antenna without sendingan ACK. After releasing control of the at least one antenna 110, the LTEcircuitry 106 may reset the timer. By resetting the timer each timecontrol of the at least one antenna 110 is released, the LTE circuitry106 may be configured to periodically grant the request 130 based on asingle request (e.g., without receiving a request from the WLANcircuitry 104 each time control of the at least one antenna 110 isrequested). If the operation no longer is scheduled to be performed, theWLAN circuitry 104 may send a termination message 144 to the LTEcircuitry 106. The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to terminateoperation of the timer (and to stop periodically releasing control ofthe at least one antenna 110) in response to receiving the terminationmessage 144. Periodically releasing control of the at least one antenna110 at the LTE circuitry 106 based on a single request message reducesoverhead and congestion at the interface 108 by reducing an amount ofmessages exchanged between the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry106 to support a periodic operation at the WLAN circuitry 104.

During operation, the LTE circuitry 106 may have control of the at leastone antenna 110 when both a WLAN mode and an LTE mode of the wirelessdevice 102 are enabled and when the wireless device 102 is not in anassociated state with any other wireless device, such as the AP 120, viaa WLAN. When the LTE circuitry 106 has control of the at least oneantenna 110, the LTE circuitry 106 may use the at least one antenna 110to send or receive data via an LTE network provided by the base station122. In a particular implementation, the LTE network is an LTE-Unetwork. The WLAN circuitry 104 may determine that an application isrequesting control of the at least one antenna 110 and the WLANcircuitry 104 may send a request 130 to the LTE circuitry 106. Therequest 130 includes the criticality bit 132 and indicates the duration134. In response to receiving the request 130, the LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine whether to grant the request 130 based on data (e.g., thecriticality bit 132 and the duration 134) included in the request 130.If the criticality bit 132 has a first value indicating the request 130corresponds to a critical operation, the LTE circuitry 106 may grant therequest 130 by sending an ACK as a response 140 to the WLAN circuitry104 and by releasing control of the at least one antenna 110. Afterreceiving the response 140, the WLAN circuitry 104 may perform theoperation using the at least one antenna 110. For example, the WLANcircuitry 104 may use the at least one antenna 110 to perform anoperation via a WLAN provided by the AP 120. After completion of theoperation, the WLAN circuitry 104 may release control of the at leastone antenna 110 and may indicate release of the at least one antenna 110by sending a release message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106.

If the criticality bit 132 has a second value indicating the request 130does not correspond to a critical operation, the LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine whether to grant the request 130 based on the duration 134.For example, if the duration 134 fails to exceed an estimated durationof time before a next expected operation at the LTE circuitry 106, theLTE circuitry 106 may grant the request 130 by sending an ACK as aresponse 140 to the WLAN circuitry 104 and by releasing control of theat least one antenna 110. The WLAN circuitry 104 may perform theoperation and then release control of the at least one antenna 110 andsend the release message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106. Alternatively, ifthe duration 134 is equal to or exceeds the estimated duration of timebefore a next expected operation at the LTE circuitry 106, the LTEcircuitry 106 may not grant the request 130 and may send a NACK as aresponse 140 to the WLAN circuitry 104. In response to the NACK, theWLAN circuitry 104 may send a second request for control of the at leastone antenna 110. If the second request is not granted, an error may betriggered at the WLAN circuitry 104.

The system 100 may enable sharing of at least one antenna 110 betweenthe WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106 with more flexibilitythan using a time division scheme. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104may be able to request control of the at least one antenna 110 when acritical operation is scheduled to be performed, as compared to waitingfor a designated time (e.g., one second of each five second interval) inthe time division scheme. Because the LTE circuitry 106 is configured togrant requests corresponding to critical operations, critical operationsmay be performed via the WLAN circuitry 104 when the operations arescheduled, thus preventing failure of a WLAN application. Additionally,requests that correspond to non-critical requests can be granted duringperiods of inactivity at the LTE circuitry 106. In this manner, the atleast one antenna 110 may be efficiently shared between the WLANcircuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106 while also supporting WLANapplications with critical operations. Because the WLAN circuitry 104and the LTE circuitry 106 may each be configured to send and receivedata via a 5 GHz channel, the sharing scheme may reduce coexistenceissues between the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106, and thewireless device 102 may support more WLAN operations than wirelessdevices that share an antenna between WLAN operations and LTE operationsusing a time division scheme.

Referring to FIG. 2, a ladder diagram of a first aspect of a method 200of sharing at least one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitryis shown. The method 200 may be performed by a wireless device thatincludes WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry that are configured to shareat least one antenna. In a particular implementation, the method 200 isperformed by the wireless device 102 including the WLAN circuitry 104and the LTE circuitry 106 of FIG. 1.

To begin, the LTE circuitry 106 may have control of the at least oneantenna 110 and may send or receive data via an LTE network using the atleast one antenna 110. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may send orreceive data via an LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 ofFIG. 1. When the WLAN circuitry 104 determines that an operation thataccesses the at least one antenna 110 is scheduled for performance, theWLAN circuitry 104 transmits (e.g., sends) a request, such as therequest 130, to the LTE circuitry 106, at 202. The request 130 includesthe criticality bit 132, and the criticality bit 132 has a first valueindicating that the request 130 corresponds to a critical operation. Forexample, the criticality bit 132 may be equal to one when the request130 corresponds to a critical operation. In other implementations, thecriticality bit 132 may have a different value to indicate that therequest 130 corresponds to a critical operation. As explained withreference to FIG. 1, an operation may be referred to as “critical” iffailure to perform the operation will cause an application to fail orenter an error state.

In response to receiving the request 130 having the criticality bit 132,the LTE circuitry 106 may determine to release control of the at leastone antenna 110, at 204. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine to release control of the at least one antenna 110 based onthe criticality bit 132 having the first value (indicating the request130 corresponds to a critical request). Determining to release controlof that at least one antenna 110 may correspond to granting the request130. The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to automatically grantrequests that are indicated as critical. In response to receiving arequest that is indicated as critical, the LTE circuitry 106 may beginperforming operations to release control of the at least one antenna110. The LTE circuitry 106 releases control of the at least one antenna110, at 206. As one example, the LTE circuitry 106 may configure aswitch to couple the at least one antenna 110 to the WLAN circuitry 104(and not to the LTE circuitry 106). As another example, a processor or acontroller included in the LTE circuitry 106 may refrain from (e.g.,prevent an application associated with the LTE circuitry 106 from)sending or receiving data via the at least one antenna 110 when controlof the at least one antenna 110 is released. To indicate granting of therequest 130, the LTE circuitry 106 transmits a response 140 to the WLANcircuitry 104, at 208. Although step 206 is described as occurring priorto step 208, in other implementations, step 206 may be performedconcurrently with step 208, or step 208 may be performed prior to step206. In FIG. 2, the response 140 is an acknowledgement (ACK). The ACKindicates to the WLAN circuitry 104 that the request 130 has beengranted by the LTE circuitry 106.

The WLAN circuitry 104 may use the at least one antenna 110 to performthe operation, at 210. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may perform ascanning operation, a ranging operation, a NAN discovery or beaconingoperation, or another operation (as described with reference to FIG. 1)by sending or receiving data via a WLAN (e.g., a WLAN provided by the AP120) using the at least one antenna 110. The operation may be performedeven though the wireless device 102 is not in an associated state withany other wireless device via the WLAN. For example, the WLAN circuitry104 may monitor the 5 GHz channel for a message or may broadcast amessage via the 5 GHz channel in an attempt to find a wireless device toassociate with. After performance of the operation is complete (e.g.,“atomically complete”), the WLAN circuitry 104 may release control ofthe at least one antenna 110, at 212. Additionally, the WLAN circuitry104 may transmit a release message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106, at 214.As one example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may configure a switch to couplethe at least one antenna 110 to the LTE circuitry 106 (and not to theWLAN circuitry 104). As another example, a processor or a controllerincluded in the WLAN circuitry 104 may refrain from sending or receivingdata via the at least one antenna 110 when control of the at least oneantenna 110 is released. After receiving the release message 142, theLTE circuitry 106 may send or receive data via an LTE network, such asthe LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 of FIG. 1. Althoughstep 212 is described as occurring prior to step 214, in otherimplementations, step 212 may be performed concurrently with step 214,or step 214 may be performed prior to step 212.

Referring to FIG. 3, a ladder diagram of a second aspect of a method 300of sharing at least one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitryis shown. The method 300 may be performed by a wireless device thatincludes WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry that are configured to shareat least one antenna. In a particular implementation, the method 300 isperformed by the wireless device 102 including the WLAN circuitry 104and the LTE circuitry 106 of FIG. 1.

To begin, the LTE circuitry 106 may have control of the at least oneantenna 110 and may send or receive data via an LTE network using the atleast one antenna 110. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may send orreceive data via an LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 ofFIG. 1. When the WLAN circuitry 104 determines that an operation thataccesses the at least one antenna 110 is scheduled for performance, theWLAN circuitry 104 transmits a request, such as the request 130, to theLTE circuitry 106, at 302. The request 130 includes the criticality bit132 and indicates the duration 134. The duration 134 indicates anestimated duration of time that the operation corresponding to therequest 130 will take to perform to completion. In FIG. 3, thecriticality bit 132 has a second value indicating that the request 130does not correspond to a critical operation. For example, thecriticality bit 132 may be equal to zero when the request 130 does notcorrespond to a critical operation. In other implementations, thecriticality bit 132 may have a different value to indicate that therequest 130 does not correspond to a critical operation.

In response to receiving the request 130 having the criticality bit 132,the LTE circuitry 106 may determine whether to grant the request 130.For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine whether to grant therequest 130 based on the duration 134. The LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine to grant the request 130 when the duration 134 fails to exceedan estimated duration until a next operation scheduled at the LTEcircuitry 106. The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured to grant requestsfrom the WLAN circuitry 104 that can be completed during a period ofinactivity (e.g., prior to a next scheduled operation) at the LTEcircuitry 106. In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, the duration 134fails to exceed the estimated duration. Thus, the LTE circuitry 106determines to grant the request 130, at 304. The LTE circuitry 106releases control of the at least one antenna 110, at 306. To indicategranting of the request 130, the LTE circuitry 106 transmits a response140 to the WLAN circuitry 104, at 308. In FIG. 3, the response 140 is anACK. The ACK indicates to the WLAN circuitry 104 that the request 130has been granted by the LTE circuitry 106. Although step 306 isdescribed as occurring prior to step 308, in other implementations, step306 may be performed concurrently with step 308, or step 308 may beperformed prior to step 306.

The WLAN circuitry 104 may use the at least one antenna 110 to performthe operation, at 310. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may performone of the operations described with reference to FIG. 1 by sending orreceiving data via a WLAN (e.g., a WLAN provided by the AP 120) usingthe at least one antenna 110. The operation may be performed even thoughthe wireless device 102 is not in an associated state with any otherwireless device via the WLAN. After performance of the operation iscomplete, the WLAN circuitry 104 may release control of the at least oneantenna 110, at 312. Additionally, the WLAN circuitry 104 may transmit arelease message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106, at 314. After receivingthe release message 142, the LTE circuitry 106 may send or receive datavia an LTE network, such as the LTE-U network provided by the basestation 122 of FIG. 1. Although step 312 is described as occurring priorto step 314, in other implementations, step 312 may be performedconcurrently with step 314, or step 314 may be performed prior to step312.

Referring to FIG. 4, a ladder diagram of a third aspect of a method 400of sharing at least one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitryis shown. The method 400 may be performed by a wireless device thatincludes WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry that are configured to shareat least one antenna. In a particular implementation, the method 400 isperformed by the wireless device 102 including the WLAN circuitry 104and the LTE circuitry 106 of FIG. 1.

To begin, the LTE circuitry 106 may have control of the at least oneantenna 110 and may send or receive data via an LTE network using the atleast one antenna 110. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may send orreceive data via an LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 ofFIG. 1. When the WLAN circuitry 104 determines that an operation thataccesses the at least one antenna 110 is scheduled for performance, theWLAN circuitry 104 transmits a request, such as the request 130, to theLTE circuitry 106, at 402. The request 130 includes the criticality bit132 and indicates the duration 134. The duration 134 indicates anestimated duration of time that the operation corresponding to therequest 130 will take to perform to completion. In FIG. 4, thecriticality bit 132 has a second value indicating that the request 130does not correspond to a critical operation. For example, thecriticality bit 132 may be equal to zero when the request 130 does notcorrespond to a critical operation. In other implementations, thecriticality bit 132 may have a different value to indicate that therequest 130 does not correspond to a critical operation.

In response to receiving the request 130 having the criticality bit 132,the LTE circuitry 106 may determine whether to grant the request 130.For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine whether to grant therequest 130 based on the duration 134. The LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine not to grant the request 130 when the duration 134 is equal toor exceeds an estimated duration until a next operation scheduled at theLTE circuitry 106. The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured not to grantrequests from the WLAN circuitry 104 that cannot be completed during aperiod of inactivity (e.g., prior to a next scheduled operation) at theLTE circuitry 106. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the duration134 is equal to or exceeds the estimated duration. Thus, the LTEcircuitry 106 determines not to grant the request 130, at 404. Toindicate the request 130 is not being granted, the LTE circuitry 106transmits a response 140 to the WLAN circuitry 104, at 406. In FIG. 4,the response 140 is a negative acknowledgement (NACK). The NACKindicates to the WLAN circuitry 104 that the request 130 has not beengranted by the LTE circuitry 106. After transmitting the NACK, the LTEcircuitry 106 maintains control of the at least one antenna 110.

In response to receiving the NACK, the WLAN circuitry 104 may determineto generate another request for access to the at least one antenna 110.For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may transmit a second request to theLTE circuitry 106, at 408. The second request indicates the duration 134in the same manner as the request 130. Additionally, the criticality bit132 included in the second request has the first value (indicating thesecond request corresponds to a critical operation). By changing thevalue of the criticality bit 132 in the second request as compared tothe request 130, the WLAN circuitry 104 may ensure that the LTEcircuitry 106 grants the second request. In response to receiving thesecond request, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine to grant the secondrequest, at 410. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine togrant the second response based on the criticality bit 132 of the secondrequest having the first value. After determining to grant the secondrequest, the LTE circuitry 106 may release control of that at least oneantenna 110, at 412. Additionally, the LTE circuitry 106 may transmit asecond response to the WLAN circuitry 104, at 414. The second responsemay include or correspond to an ACK. Although step 412 is described asoccurring prior to step 414, in other implementations, step 412 may beperformed concurrently with step 414, or step 414 may be performed priorto step 412.

The WLAN circuitry 104 may use the at least one antenna 110 to performthe operation, at 416. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may performone of the operations described with reference to FIG. 1 by sending orreceiving data via a WLAN (e.g., a WLAN provided by the AP 120) usingthe at least one antenna 110. The operation may be performed even thoughthe wireless device 102 is not in an associated state with any otherwireless device via the WLAN. After performance of the operation iscomplete, the WLAN circuitry 104 may release control of the at least oneantenna 110, at 418. Additionally, the WLAN circuitry 104 may transmit arelease message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106, at 420. Although step 418is described as occurring prior to step 420, in other implementations,step 418 may be performed concurrently with step 420, or step 420 may beperformed prior to step 418. After receiving the release message 142,the LTE circuitry 106 may send or receive data via an LTE network, suchas the LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 5, a ladder diagram of a fourth aspect of a method 500of sharing at least one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitryis shown. The method 500 may be performed by a wireless device thatincludes WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry that are configured to shareat least one antenna. In a particular implementation, the method 500 isperformed by the wireless device 102 including the WLAN circuitry 104and the LTE circuitry 106 of FIG. 1.

To begin, the LTE circuitry 106 may have control of the at least oneantenna 110 and may send or receive data via an LTE network using the atleast one antenna 110. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may send orreceive data via an LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 ofFIG. 1. When the WLAN circuitry 104 determines that an operation thataccesses the at least one antenna 110 is scheduled for performance, theWLAN circuitry 104 transmits a request, such as the request 130, to theLTE circuitry 106, at 502. The request 130 includes the criticality bit132 and indicates the duration 134. The duration 134 indicates anestimated duration of time that the operation corresponding to therequest 130 will take to perform to completion. In FIG. 5, thecriticality bit 132 has a second value indicating that the request 130does not correspond to a critical operation. For example, thecriticality bit 132 may be equal to zero when the request 130 does notcorrespond to a critical operation. In other implementations, thecriticality bit 132 may have a different value to indicate that therequest 130 does not correspond to a critical operation.

In response to receiving the request 130 having the criticality bit 132,the LTE circuitry 106 may determine whether to grant the request 130.For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine whether to grant therequest 130 based on the duration 134. The LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine not to grant the request 130 when the duration 134 is equal toor exceeds an estimated duration until a next operation scheduled at theLTE circuitry 106. The LTE circuitry 106 may be configured not to grantrequests from the WLAN circuitry 104 that cannot be completed during aperiod of inactivity (e.g., prior to a next scheduled operation) at theLTE circuitry 106. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the duration134 is equal to or exceeds the estimated duration. Thus, the LTEcircuitry 106 determines not to grant the request 130, at 504. Toindicate the request 130 is not being granted, the LTE circuitry 106transmits a response 140 to the WLAN circuitry 104, at 506. In FIG. 4,the response 140 is a negative acknowledgement (NACK). The NACKindicates to the WLAN circuitry 104 that the request 130 has not beengranted by the LTE circuitry 106. After transmitting the NACK, the LTEcircuitry 106 maintains control of the at least one antenna 110.

In response to receiving the NACK, the WLAN circuitry 104 may determineto generate another request for access to the at least one antenna 110.For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may transmit a second request to theLTE circuitry 106, at 508. The second request indicates the duration 134in the same manner as the request 130. In contrast to FIG. 4, in theexample illustrated in FIG. 5, the criticality bit 132 included in thesecond request has the second value (indicating the second request doesnot correspond to a critical operation). Because the criticality bit 132of the second request has the second value, the second request is notguaranteed to be granted by the LTE circuitry 106. In response toreceiving the second request, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine not togrant the second request, at 510. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine not to grant the second response when the duration 134 isequal to or exceeds an estimated duration until a next scheduledoperation at the LTE circuitry 106. After determining not to grant thesecond request, the LTE circuitry 106 may transmit a second response tothe WLAN circuitry 104, at 512. The second response may include orcorrespond to a NACK. The WLAN circuitry 104 may receive the NACK andgenerate an error condition (or enter an error state), at 514.Generating the error condition (or entering the error state) mayindicate that an application is requesting to perform a non-criticaloperation that has a duration that is longer than an inactivity periodat the LTE circuitry 106. Error recovery operations may be performed,such as performing a shorter operation, changing a criticality of theoperation, or other operations.

Referring to FIG. 6, a ladder diagram of a fifth aspect of a method 600of sharing at least one antenna between WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitryis shown. The method 600 may be performed by a wireless device thatincludes WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry that are configured to shareat least one antenna. In a particular implementation, the method 600 isperformed by the wireless device 102 including the WLAN circuitry 104and the LTE circuitry 106 of FIG. 1.

To begin, the LTE circuitry 106 may have control of the at least oneantenna 110 and may send or receive data via an LTE network using the atleast one antenna 110. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may send orreceive data via an LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 ofFIG. 1. When the WLAN circuitry 104 determines that an operation thataccesses the at least one antenna 110 is scheduled for periodicperformance, the WLAN circuitry 104 transmits a request, such as therequest 130, to the LTE circuitry 106, at 602. The request 130 includesthe criticality bit 132, the duration 134, and the count value 136. Thecriticality bit 132 has a first value indicating that the request 130corresponds to a critical operation. For example, the criticality bit132 may be equal to one when the request 130 corresponds to a criticaloperation. In other implementations, the criticality bit 132 may have adifferent value to indicate that the request 130 corresponds to acritical operation. The duration 134 indicates an estimated duration oftime that the operation corresponding to the request 130 will take toperform to completion. The count value 136 indicates a periodicity ofperformance of the operation. For example, the count value 136 mayindicate an amount of time until control of the at least one antenna 110is to be released to enable each performance of the operation.

In response to receiving the request 130 including the criticality bit132 having the first value, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine to grantthe request 130, at 604. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine to grant the request 130 based on the criticality bit 132having the first value (indicating the request 130 corresponds to acritical request). Additionally, the LTE circuitry 106 releases controlof the at least one antenna 110 and start a timer, at 606. The timer maybe started to enable periodic release of control of the at least oneantenna 110 based on the count value 136. To indicate granting of therequest 130, the LTE circuitry 106 transmits a response 140 to the WLANcircuitry 104, at 608. In FIG. 6, the response 140 is an acknowledgement(ACK). The ACK indicates to the WLAN circuitry 104 that the request 130has been granted by the LTE circuitry 106. Although step 606 isdescribed as occurring prior to step 608, in other implementations, step606 may be performed concurrently with step 608, or step 608 may beperformed prior to step 606.

The WLAN circuitry 104 may use the at least one antenna 110 to performthe operation, at 610. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 may performone of the operations described with reference to FIG. 1 by sending orreceiving data via a WLAN (e.g., a WLAN provided by the AP 120) usingthe at least one antenna 110. The operation may be performed even thoughthe wireless device 102 is not in an associated state with any otherwireless device via the WLAN. After performance of the operation iscomplete, the WLAN circuitry 104 may release control of the at least oneantenna 110, at 612. Additionally, the WLAN circuitry 104 may transmit arelease message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106, at 614. Although step 612is described as occurring prior to step 614, in other implementations,step 612 may be performed concurrently with step 614, or step 614 may beperformed prior to step 612. After receiving the release message 142,the LTE circuitry 106 may send or receive data via an LTE network, suchas the LTE-U network provided by the base station 122 of FIG. 1.

The timer may reach the count value 136, at 616. For example, a value ofthe timer may be equal to the count value 136. In response to the timerreaching the count value 136, the LTE circuitry 106 may release controlof the at least one antenna 110, at 618. Additionally, the LTE circuitry106 may reset the timer, at 618. In a particular implementation, the LTEcircuitry 106 does not transmit an ACK when control of the at least oneantenna 110 is released to reduce an amount of messages exchangedbetween the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106. In analternate implementation, the LTE circuitry 106 transmits an ACK to theWLAN circuitry 104 prior to releasing control of the at least oneantenna 110. The WLAN circuitry 104 may perform the operation (e.g.,another iteration of the operation) and, after performance of theoperation is complete, the WLAN circuitry 104 may release control of theat least one antenna 110. The LTE circuitry 106 may continue toperiodically release control of the at least one antenna 110 based onthe request 130 until a termination message 144 is received from theWLAN circuitry 104. In response to receiving the termination message144, the LTE circuitry 106 may terminate operation of the timer, thusterminating the periodic release of control of the at least one antenna110.

Referring to FIG. 7, a flow chart illustrating a method 700 of wirelesscommunication in which at least one antenna is shared between WLANcircuitry and LTE circuitry. The method 700 may be performed by awireless device that includes WLAN circuitry, LTE circuitry and at leastone antenna. In a particular implementation, the method 700 is performedby the LTE circuitry 106 of the wireless device 102 of FIG. 1.

The method 700 includes receiving, at long-term evolution (LTE)circuitry of a wireless device from wireless local area network (WLAN)circuitry of the wireless device while the LTE circuitry has control ofat least one antenna of the wireless device, a request for control ofthe at least one antenna, at 702. Communications by the LTE circuitryusing the at least one antenna may correspond to a first frequency band,communications by the WLAN circuitry using the at least one antenna maycorrespond to a second frequency band, and the first frequency band mayat least partially overlap the second frequency band. For example, withreference to FIG. 1, the LTE circuitry 106 may receive the request 130from the WLAN circuitry 104 while the LTE circuitry 106 has control ofthe at least one antenna 110. The LTE circuitry 106 may communicate viathe first frequency band (e.g., one or more sub-bands within a frequencyband referred to as the “5 GHz unlicensed spectrum”, which may includefrequencies between approximately 5 GHz and approximately 6 GHz, such as5150 megahertz (MHz) to 5850 MHz). For example, the LTE circuitry 106may include LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) circuitry configured to performwireless communications via one or more LTE-U sub bands. The WLANcircuitry 104 may perform wireless communication via the secondfrequency band (e.g., the 5 GHz channel), which at least partiallyoverlaps the first frequency band. In another implementation, the firstfrequency band and the second frequency band do not overlap.

The method 700 includes sending a response from the LTE circuitry to theWLAN circuitry based on data included in the request, at 702. Forexample, with reference to FIG. 1, the LTE circuitry 106 may send theresponse 140 to the WLAN circuitry 104 based on data included in therequest 130.

In a particular implementation, the method 700 may include sending datatransmissions, receiving data transmissions, or a combination thereof,via the at least one antenna in response to the LTE circuitry havingcontrol of the at least one antenna. The method 700 also includesrefraining from sending and receiving data transmissions via the atleast one antenna in response to the WLAN circuitry having control ofthe at least one antenna. For example, in response to the LTE circuitry106 having control of the at least one antenna 110, the LTE circuitry106 may send data transmissions to an LTE network and/or receive datatransmissions from an LTE network using the at least one antenna 110. Inresponse to the WLAN circuitry 104 having control of the at least oneantenna 110, the LTE circuitry 106 may refrain from sending andreceiving data transmissions via the at least one antenna 110. In aparticular implementation, releasing control of the at least one antennaincludes disabling data transmission from the LTE circuitry to the atleast one antenna 110.

In a particular implementation, the data may include a criticality bitindicating whether an operation corresponding to the request iscritical, and the data may indicate a duration of performance of theoperation. For example, the request 130 may include the criticality bit132 and may indicate a value representing the duration 134. The responsemay include an acknowledgement (ACK) if the criticality bit has a firstvalue. Additionally, the method 700 may include releasing control of theat least one antenna at the LTE circuitry in response to the criticalitybit having the first value. For example, if the criticality bit 132 hasa first value indicating the request 130 corresponds to a criticaloperation, the response 140 may include an ACK and the LTE circuitry 106may release control of the at least one antenna 110. To furtherillustrate, the LTE circuitry 106 may release control of the at leastone antenna 110 at step 206, and the LTE circuitry 106 may send the ACKto the WLAN circuitry 104 at step 208 of FIG. 2. Releasing control ofthe at least one antenna at the LTE circuitry may include causing aswitch to couple the at least one antenna to the WLAN circuitry.Alternatively, releasing control of the at least one antenna at the LTEcircuitry may include preventing an application associated with the LTEcircuitry from sending or receiving data via the at least one antenna.Additionally, the method 700 may further include receiving a releasemessage at the LTE circuitry from the WLAN circuitry after performanceof the operation at the WLAN circuitry is complete and regaining controlof the at least one antenna at the LTE circuitry after receiving therelease message. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may receive therelease message 142 from the WLAN circuitry 104 when performance of theoperation at the WLAN circuitry 104 is complete. The WLAN circuitry 104may release control of the at least one antenna 110 and the LTEcircuitry 106 may regain control of the at least one antenna 110, asdescribed with reference to FIG. 2. In a particular implementation,regaining control of the at least one antenna may include causing aswitch to couple the at least one antenna to the LTE circuitry. Forexample, the LTE circuitry 106 may cause a switch to couple the at leastone antenna 110 to the LTE circuitry 106. As another example, aprocessor included in the LTE circuitry 106 may begin sending and/orreceiving data using the at least one antenna 110. In another particularimplementation, the release message may be received prior to expirationof a time period corresponding to the duration indicated by the data.For example, the operation may be performed in less time than indicatedby the duration 134, and the release message 142 may be received at theLTE circuitry 106 in less time than indicated by the duration 134.

In a particular implementation, the method 700 further includesdetermining whether to release control of the at least one antenna atthe LTE circuitry based on the duration when the criticality bit has asecond value. For example, the LTE circuitry 106 determines whether torelease control of the at least one antenna 110 based on the duration134 if the criticality bit 132 has the second value (indicating thecorresponding operation is not critical). Additionally, the method 700may include releasing control of the at least one antenna at the LTEcircuitry in response to the criticality bit having a second value andthe duration failing to exceed an estimated duration of time before anext expected operation at the LTE circuitry. For example, the LTEcircuitry 106 may determine to release control of that at least oneantenna 110 at step 304 of FIG. 3. The response may include anacknowledgement (ACK). For example, the response 140 may include an ACKwhen the LTE circuitry 106 determines to release control of the at leastone antenna 110, and the LTE circuitry 106 may release control of thatat least one antenna 110 at step 306 of FIG. 3. The method 700 mayfurther include receiving a release message at the LTE circuitry fromthe WLAN circuitry after performance of the operation at the WLANcircuitry is complete, regaining control of the at least one antenna atthe LTE circuitry after receiving the release message, and sending orreceiving at least one data transmission at the LTE circuitry via the atleast one antenna in response to regaining control of the at least oneantenna at the LTE circuitry. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104release control of the at least one antenna 110 at step 312 and may sendthe release message 142 to the LTE circuitry 106 at step 314 of FIG. 3,and after the WLAN circuitry 104 releases control of the at least oneantenna 110, the LTE circuitry 106 may regain control of the at leastone antenna 110 and send or receive data using the at least one antenna110.

Alternatively, the method 700 may include maintaining control of the atleast one antenna at the LTE circuitry in response to the criticalitybit having a second value and the duration value exceeding an estimatedduration of time before a next expected operation at the LTE circuitry.For example, the LTE circuitry 106 may determine not to release the atleast one antenna 110 at step 404 of FIG. 4 based on the duration 134exceeding or being equal to a duration of time before a next scheduledoperation at the LTE circuitry 106. The response may include a negativeacknowledgement (NACK). For example, when the LTE circuitry 106determines not to grant the request 130, the LTE circuitry 106 may senda NACK as the response 140, as described at step 406 of FIG. 4.Additionally, the method 700 may include receiving, at the LTE circuitryfrom the WLAN circuitry, a second request for control of the at leastone antenna. The method 700 may also include sending a second responsefrom the LTE circuitry to the WLAN circuitry based on second dataincluded in the second request. For example, the WLAN circuitry 104 maysend a second request to the LTE circuitry 106 at step 408 of FIG. 4,and the LTE circuitry 106 may send a second response to the WLANcircuitry 104 in response to the second request. In someimplementations, the method 700 further includes releasing control ofthe at least one antenna at the LTE circuitry based on a second durationvalue included in the second data, where the second response includes asecond acknowledgement (ACK). For example, the LTE circuitry 106 maydetermine to release control of the at least one antenna 110 at step 410and may release control of the at least one antenna 110 at step 412 ofFIG. 4. The LTE circuitry 106 may send an ACK to the WLAN circuitry 104in response to the second request at step 414 of FIG. 4. The method 700may further include maintaining control of the at least one antenna atthe LTE circuitry based on a second duration value included in thesecond data. The second response may include a second negativeacknowledgement (NACK). In some implementations, the second NACKtriggers an error at the WLAN circuitry. For example, the LTE circuitry106 may determine to maintain control of the at least one antenna 110based on the second request at step 510, and the LTE circuitry 106 maytransmit a second NACK to the WLAN circuitry 104 at step 512 of FIG. 5.Receiving the second NACK may trigger an error at the WLAN circuitry 104at step 514 of FIG. 5.

In a particular implementation, the data (included in the request)includes a count value indicating a periodicity of the request, the dataincludes a criticality bit indicating whether an operation correspondingto the request is critical, and the data includes a duration value thatindicates a duration of performance of the operation. For example, therequest 130 may include the criticality bit 132, the duration 134, andthe count value 136. The count value 136 may indicate a periodicity ofthe request 130. The response may include an acknowledgement (ACK) ifthe criticality bit has a first value. Additionally, the method 700 mayfurther include releasing control of the at least one antenna at the LTEcircuitry in response to the criticality bit having the first value. Forexample, if the criticality bit 132 has the first value (indicating thecorresponding operation is critical), the LTE circuitry 106 may releasecontrol of the at least one antenna 110 at step 606 of FIG. 6. The LTEcircuitry 106 may also transmit an ACK as the response 140 to the WLANcircuitry 104, at step 608 of FIG. 6. Additionally, the method 700 mayinclude maintaining a timer in response to receiving the request,receiving a release message at the LTE circuitry from the WLAN circuitryafter performance of the operation at the WLAN circuitry is complete,regaining control of the at least one antenna at the LTE circuitry inresponse to receiving the release message, and, in response to the timerreaching a value matching the count value, releasing control of the atleast one antenna at the LTE circuitry and resetting the timer. Forexample, the LTE circuitry 106 may start the timer at step 606 and theWLAN circuitry 104 may send the release message 142 to the LTE circuitry106 at step 614 at FIG. 6. After the timer reaches the count value 136at step 616, the LTE circuitry 106 may release control of the at leastone antenna 110 and reset the timer at step 618 of FIG. 6. The method700 may also include receiving a termination message at the LTEcircuitry from the WLAN circuitry and terminating operation of the timerin response to receiving the termination message. For example, if theperiodic operation is no longer scheduled for performance at the WLANcircuitry 104, the WLAN circuitry 104 may send the termination message144 to the LTE circuitry 106 and the LTE circuitry 106 may terminateoperation of the timer based on receiving the termination message 144.

In a particular implementation, when the request is received, the LTEcircuitry is operating in an enabled mode, the WLAN circuitry isoperating in an enabled mode, and the wireless device is not in anassociated state with any other wireless device via the WLAN circuitry.For example, the message-based sharing described with reference to FIGS.1-6 may be performed when an LTE mode and a WLAN mode of the wirelessdevice 102 are both enabled and when the wireless device 102 is not inan associated state with (e.g., is not connected to) any other wirelessdevice via a WLAN. In another particular implementation, the LTEcircuitry and the WLAN circuitry may be integrated within a modem of thewireless device. For example, the wireless device 102 may include amodem that includes the WLAN circuitry 104 and the LTE circuitry 106.

In a particular implementation, the request may be received via aninterface coupled to the WLAN circuitry and the LTE circuitry. Forexample, the WLAN circuitry 104 may transmit the request 130 to the LTEcircuitry 106 via the interface 108. The interface 108 may include awireless coexistence interface 2 (WCI-2) or a shared memory interface.

The method 700 of FIG. 7 may enable sharing of at least one antennabetween WLAN circuitry and LTE circuitry. The method 700 may enablesharing with more flexibility than sharing an antenna using a timedivision scheme.

Referring to FIG. 8, a block diagram of a particular illustrativeimplementation of a wireless communication device 800 is depicted. Thedevice 800 includes a processor 810, such as a digital signal processor(DSP), coupled to a memory 832. In an illustrative implementation, thedevice 800, or components thereof, may correspond to the wireless device102 of FIG. 1, or components thereof.

The memory 832 includes instructions 868 (e.g., executable instructions)such as computer-readable instructions or processor-readableinstructions. The instructions 868 may include one or more instructionsthat are executable by a computer, such as the processor 810. Theprocessor 810 may be configured to execute software (e.g., a program ofone or more instructions 868) stored in the memory 832 (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable medium). Additionally or alternatively,the processor 810 may be configured to implement one or moreinstructions stored in a memory of a wireless interface 840 (e.g., anInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11compliant interface). For example, the wireless interface 840 may beconfigured to operate in accordance with one or more wirelesscommunication standards, including one or more IEEE 802.11 standards andone or more NAN standards. In a particular implementation, the processor810 may be configured to operate in accordance with the method 700 ofFIG. 7.

The device 800 may also include wireless local area network (WLAN)circuitry 870 and long term evolution (LTE) circuitry 872. The WLANcircuitry 870 may be configured to perform communications with a WLAN,and the LTE circuitry 872 may be configured to perform communicationswith a LTE network. In a particular implementation, the LTE network maybe a LTE-U network that performs operations via the 5 GHz UnlicensedSpectrum (or via sub-bands thereof, as described with reference to FIG.1). The WLAN circuitry 870 and the LTE circuitry 872 may each includeprocessors or controllers, transceiver(s), receiver(s), transmitter(s),antenna interface circuit(s), switch(es), switch control circuitry,duplexer(s), transmit filter(s), receive filter(s), matching circuit(s),mixer(s), amplifier(s), oscillator(s), local oscillator (LO)generator(s), phase-locked loop(s) (PLLs), other circuitry, or acombination thereof. In a particular implementation, the WLAN circuitry870 may include or correspond to the WLAN circuitry 104 of FIG. 1, andthe LTE circuitry 872 may include or correspond to the LTE circuitry 106of FIG. 1. The wireless interface 840 may be coupled to the processor810 via the WLAN circuitry 870 and the LTE circuitry 872, and thewireless interface 840 may be coupled to an antenna 842. For example,the wireless interface 840 may be coupled to the antenna 842 via atransceiver 846, such that wireless data received via the antenna 842may be provided to the processor 810. In some implementations, theantenna 842 may be a single antenna that is shared between the WLANcircuitry 870 and the LTE circuitry 872. Although illustrated as asingle antenna, in other implementations, the antenna 842 may include orcorrespond to a set of antennas that are shared between the WLANcircuitry 870 and the LTE circuitry 872. In some implementations, theantenna 842 corresponds to multiple antennas and enables performance ofmultiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) communications. Althoughillustrated as separate from the wireless interface 840 and thetransceiver 846, in some implementations part of (or an entirety of) thewireless interface 840 and the transceiver 846 may be included in theWLAN circuitry 870 and the LTE circuitry 872. In an implementation, awireless device, such as the device 800, may include a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by aprocessor, such as the processor 810, cause the processor to receive, atLTE circuitry, such as the LTE circuitry 872, of the wireless devicefrom WLAN circuitry, such as the WLAN circuitry 870, a request forcontrol of the at least one antenna, such as the antenna 842, while theLTE circuitry has control of the at least one antenna. Communications bythe LTE circuitry using the at least one antenna may correspond to afirst frequency band, communications by the WLAN circuitry using the atleast one antenna may correspond to the second frequency band, and thefirst frequency band may at least partially overlap the second frequencyband. In such an implementation, the wireless device additionally mayinclude the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructionsthat, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to send aresponse from the LTE circuitry to the WLAN circuitry based on dataincluded in the request.

FIG. 8 also illustrates a display controller 826 that can be coupled tothe processor 810 and to a display 828. A coder/decoder (CODEC) 834 mayalso be coupled to the processor 810. A speaker 836 and a microphone 838may be coupled to the CODEC 834. In some implementations, the processor810, the display controller 826, the memory 832, the CODEC 834, the WLANcircuitry 870, the LTE circuitry 872, the wireless interface 840, andthe transceiver 846 are included in a system-in-package orsystem-on-chip device 822. In some implementations, an input device 830and a power supply 844 are coupled to the system-on-chip device 822.Moreover, in a particular aspect, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the display828, the input device 830, the speaker 836, the microphone 838, theantenna 842, and the power supply 844 are external to the system-on-chipdevice 822. However, each of the display 828, the input device 830, thespeaker 836, the microphone 838, the antenna 842, and the power supply844 may be coupled to a component of the system-on-chip device 822, suchas an interface or a controller.

In a particular implementation, the memory 832 may include anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, such asthe instructions 868, that, when executed by a processor, such as theprocessor 810, causes the processor 810 to receive, at the LTE circuitry872 of the device 800 from the WLAN circuitry 870 of the device 800while the LTE circuitry 872 has control of at least one antenna (e.g.,the antenna 842) of the wireless device, a request for control of the atleast one antenna. The LTE circuitry 872 and the WLAN circuitry 870 maybe configured to communicate using the at least one antenna via a commonfrequency band. For example, a common frequency band may be associatedwith communications by the LTE circuitry 872 and the WLAN circuitry 870while using the at least one antenna 842. The instructions 868 mayfurther cause the processor to send a response from the LTE circuitry872 to the WLAN circuitry 870 based on data included in the request. Ina particular implementation, the common frequency band may include a 5GHz channel, and the LTE circuitry 872 may include LTE-U circuitryconfigured to perform wireless communications via the 5 GHz channel.

In conjunction with the described aspects, an apparatus includes meansfor performing long term evolution (LTE) communications via at least oneantenna and via a first frequency band. The means for performing LTEcommunications may include or correspond to the LTE circuitry 106 ofFIG. 1, the LTE circuitry 872, the processor 810, the wireless interface840, and/or the transceiver 846 of FIG. 8, one or more other structuresor circuits configured to perform LTE communications via the at leastone antenna and the first frequency band, or any combination thereof. Ina particular implementation, the means for performing LTE communicationsmay be configured to perform LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) communications viathe 5 GHz channel.

The apparatus includes means for performing wireless local area network(WLAN) communications via the at least one antenna and via a secondfrequency band, the first frequency band at least partially overlappingthe second frequency band. The means for performing WLAN communicationsmay include or correspond to the WLAN circuitry 104 of FIG. 1, the WLANcircuitry 870, the processor 810, the wireless interface 840, and/or thetransceiver 846 of FIG. 8, one or more other structures or circuitsconfigured to perform WLAN communications via at least one antenna and asecond frequency band, or any combination thereof.

The apparatus further includes means for sending a response to the meansfor performing WLAN communications based on data included in a requestreceived from the means for performing WLAN communications while themeans for performing LTE communications has control of the at least oneantenna. The request is for control of the at least one antenna. Themeans sending may include or correspond to an interface and/or aprocessor (or controller) included in the LTE circuitry 106 of FIG. 1,an interface and/or a processor (or controller) included in the LTEcircuitry 872, the processor 810, the wireless interface 840, and/or thetransceiver 846 of FIG. 8, one or more other structures or circuitsconfigured to send a response to the means for performing WLANcommunications, or any combination thereof. In a particularimplementation, the apparatus further includes means for sharingmessages between the means for performing WLAN communications and themeans for performing LTE communications. The means for sharing mayinclude the interface 108 of FIG. 1, an interface or bus coupled to theWLAN circuitry 870 and the LTE circuitry 872 of FIG. 8, one or moreother structures or circuits configured to share messages between themeans for performing WLAN communications and the means for performingLTE communications, or any combination thereof.

One or more of the disclosed aspects may be implemented in a system oran apparatus, such as the device 800, that may include a communicationsdevice, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a cellularphone, a navigation device, a computer, a portable computer, a desktopcomputer, a set top box, an entertainment unit, a fixed location dataunit, a mobile location data unit, a monitor, a computer monitor, atelevision, a tuner, a radio, a satellite radio, a music player, adigital music player, a portable music player, a video player, a digitalvideo player, a digital video disc (DVD) player, a portable digitalvideo player, a vehicle, a component within a vehicle, or any otherdevice that stores or retrieves data or computer instructions, or anycombination thereof.

Although one or more of FIGS. 1-8 may illustrate systems, apparatuses,and/or methods according to the teachings of the disclosure, thedisclosure is not limited to these illustrated systems, apparatuses,and/or methods. One or more functions or components of any of FIGS. 1-8as illustrated or described herein may be combined with one or moreother portions of another of FIGS. 1-8. Accordingly, no singleimplementation described herein should be construed as limiting andimplementations of the disclosure may be suitably combined withoutdeparting form the teachings of the disclosure.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, configurations, modules, circuits, and algorithm stepsdescribed in connection with the implementations disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software executed by aprocessor, or combinations of both. Various illustrative components,blocks, configurations, modules, circuits, and steps have been describedabove generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or processor executableinstructions depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with thedisclosure herein may be implemented directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory,read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or any otherform of non-transient storage medium known in the art. An exemplarystorage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor canread information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Inthe alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor.The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The ASIC may reside in acomputing device or a user terminal. In the alternative, the processorand the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a computingdevice or user terminal.

The previous description is provided to enable a person skilled in theart to make or use the disclosed implementations. Various modificationsto these implementations will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and the principles defined herein may be applied to otherimplementations without departing from the scope of the disclosure.Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to theimplementations shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scopepossible consistent with the principles and novel features as defined bythe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication, the methodcomprising: performing a first communication operation associated with afirst frequency band using at least one antenna of a wireless device,wherein the first communication operation is initiated by long-termevolution (LTE) circuitry of the wireless device; and based on acomparison of a duration of a second communication operation to anestimated duration before a next LTE communication operation, performingthe second communication operation associated with a second frequencyband using the at least one antenna of the wireless device, wherein thesecond communication operation is initiated by wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) circuitry of the wireless device, and wherein the firstfrequency band at least partially overlaps the second frequency band. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the second communication operation isassociated with a criticality value that indicates whether the secondcommunication operation is critical.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe criticality value indicates that the second communication operationis critical.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising refrainingfrom performing a third communication operation associated with thesecond frequency band based on a second criticality value associatedwith the third communication operation indicating that the thirdcommunication operation is not critical.
 5. The method of claim 2,further comprising performing a third communication operation associatedwith the first frequency band using the at least one antenna based on asecond duration of a fourth communication operation associated with thesecond frequency band being greater than the estimated duration.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, further comprising sending a negative acknowledgement(NACK) from the LTE circuitry to the WLAN circuitry based on the secondduration being greater than the estimated duration.
 7. The method ofclaim 2, further comprising performing a third communication operationassociated with the second frequency band using the at least one antennabased on a criticality value associated with the third communicationoperation indicating that the third communication operation is criticaland a second duration of the third communication operation being greaterthan the estimated duration.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising causing a switch to couple the WLAN circuitry to the at leastone antenna prior to performing the second communication operation. 9.The method of claim 1, further comprising disabling data transmissionfrom the LTE circuitry to the at least one antenna during performance ofthe second communication operation.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising performing a third communication operation associated withthe first frequency band using the at least one antenna after completionof the second communication operation.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the second frequency band comprises a 5 gigahertz (GHz) channel.12. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a periodiccommunication operation associated with the second frequency band usingthe at least one antenna, wherein the periodic communication operationis performed multiple times, and wherein the periodic communicationoperation includes the second communication operation.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein a criticality value associated with the periodiccommunication operation indicates that the periodic communicationoperation is critical.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprisingperforming a third communication operation associated with the firstfrequency band using the at least one antenna after performance of thesecond communication operation and prior to performance of a fourthcommunication operation associated with the second frequency band,wherein the periodic communication operation comprises the fourthcommunication operation.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the secondcommunication operation is performed based on the duration being lessthan or equal to the estimated duration.
 16. The method of claim 1,further comprising performing a third communication operation associatedwith the second frequency band using the at least one antenna, wherein aperiodic communication operation comprises the second communicationoperation and the third communication operation.
 17. The method of claim16, wherein the second communication operation and the thirdcommunication operation have the same duration.
 18. An apparatuscomprising: at least one antenna; long-term evolution (LTE) circuitryconfigured to initiate performance of a first communication operationassociated with a first frequency band using the at least one antenna;and wireless local area network (WLAN) circuitry configured to, based ona comparison of a duration of a second communication operation to anestimated duration before a next LTE communication operation, initiateperformance of the second communication operation associated with asecond frequency band using the at least one antenna, wherein the firstfrequency band at least partially overlaps the second frequency band.19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the LTE circuitry comprisesLTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) circuitry configured to perform wirelesscommunications via a 5 GHz channel.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18,further comprising an interface configured to enable communicationsbetween the LTE circuitry and the WLAN circuitry.
 21. The apparatus ofclaim 18, further comprising a switch configured to selectively couplethe at least one antenna to the WLAN circuitry or to the LTE circuitry.22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the LTE circuitry is configuredto cause the switch to couple the at least one antenna to the WLANcircuitry based on the duration being less than or equal to theestimated duration.
 23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the LTEcircuitry is configured to cause the switch to couple the at least oneantenna to the LTE circuitry responsive to completion of the secondcommunication operation.
 24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein theinterface comprises a shared memory interface, a wireless coexistenceinterface 2 (WCI-2), a general purpose input-output (GPIO) interface, ora bus.
 25. An apparatus comprising: means for performing a long termevolution (LTE) communication operation associated with a firstfrequency band using at least one antenna; and means for performing awireless local area network (WLAN) communication operation associatedwith a second frequency band using the at least one antenna, the WLANcommunication performed based on a comparison of a duration of the WLANcommunication operation to a an estimated duration before a next LTEcommunication operation, wherein the first frequency band at leastpartially overlaps the second frequency band.
 26. The apparatus of claim25, wherein the second frequency band comprises a 5 gigahertz (GHz)channel, and wherein the LTE communication operation comprises aLTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) operation via at least a portion of the 5 GHzchannel.
 27. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising means forsharing messages between the means for performing the WLAN communicationoperation and the means for performing the LTE communication operation.28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that,when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: initiateperformance of a first communication operation associated with a firstfrequency band using at least one antenna of a wireless device, whereinthe first communication operation comprises a long-term evolution (LTE)communication operation; and based on a comparison of a duration of asecond communication operation to an estimated duration before a nextLTE communication operation, initiate performance of the secondcommunication operation associated with a second frequency band usingthe at least one antenna wireless device, wherein the secondcommunication operation comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN)communication operation, and wherein the first frequency band at leastpartially overlaps the second frequency band.
 29. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the LTE communicationoperation comprises a LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) communication operation.30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein thesecond communication operation is performed based on the duration beingless than or equal to the estimated duration.